Slate's $24,950 electric truck ships with no key fob, no power windows, and no screen. The startup's accessory marketplace lets buyers add physical upgrades, a contrast to the software subscription model of Ford, GM, and Tesla.
The Slate electric truck starts at $24,950 with a square key that slots into a square dash panel. No key fob. No power windows. No infotainment screen. The company's pitch is simple: modern cars are too expensive and too complicated.
Slate sells the base vehicle, then lets buyers shop an accessory marketplace for the features they actually want. Speakers, upgraded upholstery, body wraps, towing equipment. The add-ons are physical, not digital.
That is a different revenue model than the one most automakers pursue. Ford, General Motors, and Tesla increasingly rely on software subscriptions and over-the-air updates to keep collecting money after the sale. Slate wants customers to buy hardware instead.
Business Insider drove a prototype on Tuesday and reported that the truck was roomy, balanced, and genuinely fun to drive. The interior is deliberately plain. The windows require six or seven hand-crank spins to roll down. A single bell chimes when the key is inserted and the instrument display flicks on.
The bare-bones cabin also showed which modern conveniences a driver might miss. The reporter identified five add-ons needed to make the truck livable.
The base Slate is a two-seat pickup. The first upgrade is the squareback SUV kit, which adds a second-row bench, increases capacity from two people to five, and raises the price from $24,950 to $29,950. A $250 integrated speaker system adds sound. A $100 locking tailgate secures the bed. A rear-mounted bike carrier and tow hitch add $700.
That brings the total to about $31,000 before taxes and destination fees. At that price, it starts competing with vehicles like the base Ford Maverick and Nissan Leaf, both of which arrive with power windows, infotainment screens, and fewer decisions to make before leaving the lot.
A fully loaded dream build with 28 accessories, including a blue body wrap, white roof, yellow accents, roof rack, and upgraded bumper, reached $34,949 before five unpriced items.
Automakers have spent years filling parking lots with crossover SUVs that blur together. It can be hard to tell a Toyota RAV4 from a Honda CR-V or Mazda CX-5 in the school pickup line. The era of the affordable personality car, the Volkswagen Beetle or Chrysler PT Cruiser, has largely faded.
Slate gives buyers unusual freedom to make the truck look like their own, right down to a new partnership with Crayola. Whether that is enough to create a mass-market hit is an open question. After years of increasingly interchangeable cars, the company is betting that a little imagination goes a long way.
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